Former member of ICC's panel of elite umpires Ian Gould, who retired from the game in the World Cup 2019, has rated the duel between a peak form Dale Steyn and master Sachin Tendulkar during the 2011 Cape Town Test match as the best he has seen.

Gould called the battle between two masters of their respective crafts as 'fierce but fair'. "That was fierce but fair. That was as good as it got. I was stood there with a brilliant umpire, Simon Taufel, and the two of us came off and said, "Wow, we'd pay for that." Dale bowled very quickly and Sachin just had the railway sleeper in his hand and kept patting it back at him. Fantastic." Gould said.

WATCH- James Anderson and Dale Steyn talk about how they planned for Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar stood tall with a brilliant 146 against South Africa’s bowling prowess as Dale Steyn rattled the Indian batting line-up with two wickets in his two spells of 11 overs, but couldn’t get through the defenses of the little master.

India scored 364 in reply to Proteas' 362. South Africa made 341 in their second innings and match was drawn when India was batting at 166/3, chasing a target of 340.

Gould was also asked to pick the three best batsmen he had seen during his career and he picked Jacques Kallis, Tendulkar, and current India captain Virat Kohli.

"Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," Gould mentioned.

As for the three best bowlers, Gould picked Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson, while choosing Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal as his third pick.

(ESPNCricinfo inputs)